Goal Lists are Goal Lists, Belated or Not

Okay, so it’s a almost two weeks late at this point, but here we go! It’s a post that will probably be of no interest to the majority of you, but will hold me accountable to my goals (and who knows maybe you all will hold me accountable too): Housekeeping, [Writing] Resolutions and Goals for 2015!

Every so often I make about a million new years resolutions or write up a 101 in 1001 (which I’m actually considering doing again this year because I made a -few- too many new years resolutions), but then I forget to stick with them. Whoops. Then for a few years I don’t make any because “haha! Look at us fools and our arbitrary concept of time!” *shrugs* Anyway, I feel like this year you get the best of both worlds. I made a ton of resolutions and I’m writing them out two weeks late because…well… we’ll blame the arbitrary concept of time. I won’t bore you with all of them (at least not until I get the latest 101 in 1001 sorted out), but I figure this is as good a place as any to be accountable to writing goals.

1. Submit and display more of my work publicly. 2014 ended on a bit of a high note for me. One of my short stories was accepted by Interlude Press for their Summer Love anthology. This was big news; partially because they’re a lovely bunch of people and they accepted my work, but also because it was the first thing I had submitted to a journal or anthology call since 2008. Yep… Rejection scares terrifies leaves me cowering in the corner of my room weeping before I’ve even submitted anything. It’s a tough world out there. This year, I’m going to try to choke down the fear and put more out there. Maybe There will be rejections. That’s a given in the creative world where everything one does is so utterly subjective. Still, if I don’t put myself out there, there’s also 0% chance that I will get to hear the worlds “Congratulations!”
2. Speaking of rejections…last year I got a lot of “this isn’t for me”s in regard to The Black Guard Chronicles, which is unfortunate, but with the help of some lovely editors and workshoppers, I think I’ve got a plan of rewrite action, so I will be putting a lot of energy this year into getting those rewrites done and maybe someday Dosia and her crew will see the light of day.
3. Season of the Witch seems to be moving along nicely, which I am definitely proud of. The seventh installment is on tap for my birthday (!) and the eighth (which features Clarissa – I bet you all thought I forgot about her, didn’t you?) should be available in mid April. I hope to release two, if not three, additional volumes this year, as well as begin work on a print edition. Now, of course, I shall shamelessly plug the patreon. I will continue Season of the Witch through to its natural end and all ebook versions will be free no matter what, but your support means the world to me and allows me to do more with the world.
4. I will learn more about marketing this year…and actually implement what I learn. In the past, my marketing of my own work hasn’t been great. I tend to rely heavily on passive discovery, which I don’t really think works as well as I would like. Actually, I think this accounts for the lags in some areas (*cough*WDYSSAY?*cough*). This year, I want to try more active marketing, but don’t worry, I’m not going to be spamming you with “support my patreon!” “buy my book!” everyday. Anxiety gnaws at me even thinking about it.
5. Finally, behind the scenes-wise, I’m playing around with a few new ideas, but nothing’s concrete enough yet to make a definite decisions. Just keep your eyes peeled.
6. Oh! Also! I will update here more often. Maybe some stories. Maybe some poems. Maybe just some musings from yours truly. I promise this is actually going to happen this time.

stay tuned for the 101 in 1001